Northbound Big Four local at Rushville IN on joint track. Highway north of NKP Depot is US 52. Maurice Lewman Collection.
There is a lot of things going on in this photo. This was NKP track and the operation over it was the same from 1890 until the closing of the track around 1980 . There was about 2 mile of this track in Rushville . Operation was like this , when we came to town from the north or south we stopped at the ends of this track, if the way was clear you started moving to the other end of this track. All trains that were in this 2 mile of track proceeded looking out for other movements prepared to stop .Coming from the north you made your stop pulled down 40 car lengths and stopped for the B&O got the signal pulled down another 30 cars and stopped again . This was just a sign that said stop, if it was clear you proceeded south on your own railroad under the signal you had at our depot . The depot in the photo is the NKP and if look between the depot and the train you can see the crossing watchman's shanty and to the left of the depot is one of those one man filling stations with 2 pumps with gasoline about ,25 cents a gallon . All of this is now gone including the elevator . When I pass by now and again I have to look hard or I miss the location So much for the days of old . LEW
Thanks for this description of your operation, Lew. I get the impression that your entry into the 2 mile section, and at each of the stops, was manual with someone from crew walking in front and looking both ways before you could proceed, without protection from a dispatcher.
It was straight track as you can see in the photo. After stopping You proceeded at restricted speed . At the B&O it was a gate until about 1948 , then the B&O went automatic block and a dwarf signal was installed for the NYC . We would push a button on the signal post to get the signal . A the next stop which was a stop board, you stopped looked both directions and if clear proceed . This applied to all trains, Pass. or freight .It was up to the men on the trains for the movements. We were going south with about 100 cars and pulling down to the B&O the NKP was switching and the only track open was a 25 car siding you can see next to the elevator . After talking it over we took our train through the siding and back on the main at the south end , the NKP crew taking care of the switches . Dispatcher or operators were not used in any way . LEW
Amazing, you guys had full control for operating your train. Certainly a contrast to today's centralized dispatching systems with engineers just responding to lights controlled by a computer hundreds of miles away. Thanks.
And I'll bet things went more efficiently then, with crews like LEW and his folks who cared about the railroad and getting the job done. Thanks, LEW.
